Wildberries and other marketplaces ask Russian government for hundreds of billions of roubles in aid

The Association of Digital Platforms (ADP), which brings together Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex, Avito and Kuper, has proposed that the Russian government introduce a package of support measures for businesses affected by drone attacks.

Source: ADP's letter to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on 12 August, as reported by Russian media outlet Vedomosti

Details: One of the measures proposed by the ADP is direct one-off payments from the federal budget. The companies say this would allow businesses to resume operations at their usual capacity, as well as preserve businesses and jobs.

According to the association, the amount of such support should be calculated based on the actual damage suffered and the scale of operations of each individual organisation.

In addition, affected businesses are proposing that they be granted a six-month deferral or instalment plan for paying taxes and mandatory contributions, while penalties and fines should be temporarily suspended during periods when they were objectively unable to operate normally.

Another Russian media outlet, The Moscow Times, reports that the amount requested by the ADP is estimated at hundreds of billions of roubles. In particular, goods worth between 445 billion roubles and 507 billion roubles (US$5.2-6 billion) were destroyed in fires at Wildberries warehouses following a series of attacks.

The Association of Suppliers of Goods for Trade on Electronic Platforms (APTEP) estimates sellers' losses even higher, at 600-700 billion roubles (US$7.1-8.3 billion)

Meanwhile, Wildberries itself, which lost around a third of its warehouse capacity, suffered direct losses estimated at 147-223 billion roubles (US$1.7-2.6 billion), according to DataInsight.

This figure rises to 278 billion roubles (US$3.3 billion) when the costs of dismantling structures, removing waste and restoring the affected sites are taken into account.

Background:

• Following attacks on Wildberries, some Russian marketplaces began changing their terms for sellers and removing their liability for goods lost during UAV attacks.
• Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex Market, Megamarket and Magnit Market have changed their terms and conditions.

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